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Eager Beaver Review

PROS

Hazards provide a modicum of challenge; all predictable in their own way.

Cute presentation over a variety of locations.

CONS

Sinks in to repetitious familiarity early on.

VERDICT

Eager Beaver mixes up the tower-building concept by placing it underwater; while similar in many ways it proves to be entertaining despite the same-ish feel.

Full Review

App Store Info

I'll simply mention the awkwardness that is the title of Eager Beaver by Gamagio and Chillingo and simply leave it at that. Thankfully the game has absolutely nothing to do with the gutter-mind interpretation and everything to do with its literal interpretation as you control Edgar, the only beaver who seems to enjoy creating dams with the help of junk laying about and his trusty wooden fork-lift.

As you can imagine, your time will be taken up by the task of building dams with the fixed series of objects you're handed, hopefully stacking them just right to block the flow of water (as indicated by a handy % label in the corner of the screen). 'Flow' being the key word here as each level slowly ramps up the strength of the tide that twists and turns the rocks and junk being tipped in to the river. Add in explosives, ravenous and angry fish, as well as turbines to suck up some of the water and things aren't as easy as they first appear.

Building your dam is at least a complete doddle as you only need one touch to play. Holding down and dragging will reposition your flotsam while also rotating it slowly. Let go and the piece drops in to the stream, sinking to its final destination. While not entirely realistic in its physics, the blocks do fall with a somewhat intuitive predictability, making failure a problem of poor placement and timing than random luck.

Still, the variety of challenges wears thin after some time, even with the multitude of traps and creatures barring the way - each block your given tends to hint at the optimal solution (as they're fixed), so with only a modicum of experimentation you'll plow right through the currently available content.

Eager Beaver's unique take on the tower-building concept makes it a worthwhile title to check out, but before long the game will set in to a rote pattern and you may be wishing for a bit more meat to the various challenges you're presented.

Description

Construct a Dam with Edgar the Eager Beaver!
Play as Edgar the tireless dam building machine, whose hard work had led to all the other beavers becoming lazy, as you build dams to stop the torrent of water destroying your home.

• BEAVER FEVER
Do what beavers do best in this puzzle game. Pile objects on top of one another and block off the water with a makeshift dam.

• GET YOUR TEETH INTO THESE PUZZLES
You will have to contend with raging rapids, pesky fish and awkwardly shaped blocks as you try to stop the flow of water. Out your wits to the test and choose the perfect order to place your pieces. Remember, balance and patience is key!

• COMIC CHARACTERS
Gorgeous character artwork really makes Eager Beaver stand out. Have a look at Edgar in his hardhat, the dim-witted fish, and the chubby, lazy beavers and we dare you not to smile!